Friday, 2 July 2010

I'm only borrowing it for a short time

You know when you come here, you're not getting your normal teablog. I've gotten huge spikes in traffic and conversation when I wrote about religion and music, which are goldmines I can continue to pull ideas from. But the most fun I've had both here and in the responses I heard in my *real* life was when I talked about sex. Whether tea drinking improves your sex life. I think I put it more delicately. Are tea drinkers more amorous? That's how I approached it.

But now I want to write about a touchy subject that is less salacious than scatological. Have been having a lot of success with practicing the multiple infusions of Oolong. Have written enough about it here that this won't be new to you. More tea, in a smaller container for dramatically shorter steeping times.

This works fine in the early afternoon. Especially if I'm home working on a project. I steep my Oolong leaves for twenty seconds and then sip at that mug until it's gone and then I brew the same leaves again. Once more for only twenty seconds. The amount of flavour from such a brief time is surprising. And the accounts I've read about a certain taste only coming out after several infusions are finally my personal experience. For example a floral taste that was not there the first few infusions starts to surface.

As I say, this is fine in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I've gone a bit overboard with it in the evenings a few times. What happens when you drink mug after mug of Oolong, or any tea for that matter?

I've heard a funny saying made about beer, but I'm going to repeat it and insert 'tea' where 'beer' normally goes. When I drink tea, I don't really get to keep it. I'm only borrowing it for a short time. Soon enough I have to give it back.

So that's what I'm thinking about today. This method of brewing Oolong that I've learned about from reading many very interesting sites/blogs is delicious. And economical. The tea certainly lasts longer. But there's only so many mugs of tea one can drink before one needs to relieve one's self.

Have heard that this is a great definition of serenity. You're in the car on a highway. Desperately you need to get rid of all the tea you drank, but there's no exit for miles. You wait and wait as the miles fly past, but it seems like the exit will never come. When you think you just can't hold it anymore, you come to the exit.

You park the car, run inside, fumble with your jeans or your skirt...or whatever you're wont to wear when you travel...and finally you can let go and release all of that frustrated tension that was allowing you to persevere. You let go and relax your whole body...your whole being. That feeling? That's serenity.